Quote:
Originally Posted by Darrin Kelley
No, what D&D 4th Edition has become is the very thing its roots are in., A tabletop fantasy wargame. The social aspects have been utterly taken out of it.
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Skill. Challenges.
Quote:
The assumption of a role. the playing the part of your character, the theatrical element has been ripped completely out of it.
Your character is nothing but a highly customized wargame piece in D&D 4th Edition. The equivilent of pushing a faceless unit in Warhammer Fantasy. It changed the focus from actually being and caring about your character to looking at it as a completely disposeable. faceless unit.
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PHB, page 23. "A typical D&D adventure offers many opportunities for your character's personality to shine. These roleplaying opportunities usually arise in three kinds of situations: social interactions, decision points, and dire straits. The following sections pose questions to help you choose personality traits for your haracter, which you can write on your character sheet."
To stay on the safe side of fair use- the three sections following ask question and ask you to select traits in response to those questions to further define a character's personality. These questions are:
"How do others perceive you in social interactions?"
"How optimistic are you?"
"How trusting are you?"
"How assertive are you at a decision point?"
"How conscientious are you about following rules?"
"How empathetic are you?"
"How courageous are you in dire straits?"
"How do you feel when faced by setbacks?"
"How are your nerves?"
Sections on mannerisms, appearance, and background follow. It's only a couple of pages but it does a lot.
And all this comes BEFORE the chapters on Races, Classes, Skills, Feats, and combat rules. It's chapter two.
The DMG has an entire chapter on noncombat encounters. Traps and puzzles are part of this, but social encounters are an implicit part. On pages 76-80 we are presented with seven skill challenges. Of these, four- "The Negotiation", "The Dead Witness", "The Interrogation", and "Discovering Secret Lore"- involve diplomacy and social interaction.
On page 100, in the section "Building an Adventure", questions asked in preparation include "Why do the PCs care?" and "What are the PCs' goals?"
Opinion is one thing, but this is like arguing that the movie GONE WITH THE WIND is in black and white. You are wrong.